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The peace summit in Ukraine planned by Switzerland has so far attracted delegations from more than 50 countries, Swiss President Viola Amherd said. Russia has not been invited, but Switzerland says it could be if Moscow had not repeatedly said it was not interested. The Ukrainian government has said that Russia is not negotiating in good faith anyway.
Amherd said she discussed whether Switzerland could withdraw from receiving a Patriot missile defense system this is due from the US, so Ukraine can get one sooner.
This was announced by the Ukrainian presidential office additional reinforcements were deployed in the Kharkov region, including army spare parts. Heavy enemy fire was called in repositioning of part of the troops in the direction of Kupyansk to the east of the city of Kharkiv, the General Staff announced on Wednesday. President Volodymyr Zelensky has postponed all his upcoming trips abroad, underscoring the seriousness of the threat facing his troops. The Ukrainian military said troops withdrew from the Lukyantsi and Vovchansk areas near Kharkiv “to save the lives of our servicemen and avoid casualties.” Peter Beaumont writes.
Vovchansk – 5 km (three miles) from the Russian border – has been the focus of much of the recent fighting, and Ukrainian and Russian troops fought in its streets on Wednesday. Oleksiy Kharkovsky, head of the city’s patrol police, said Russian troops had taken up positions there, while the Ukrainian General Staff said its forces were trying to push them out.
Russia’s gains in Kharkiv region should be a ‘wake-up call’, British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said, adding that the Allies were “distracted” by the war. “We must vice versa [the Ukrainians] all the time, not just intermittentlyShapps said, adding that a $60 billion U.S. military package “took too long to get through Congress.”
Visit to Kiev, on US Secretary of State Anthony Blinkenannounced a $2 billion arms deal, with most of the money coming from the package approved by Congress last month.
Blinken said The US does not encourage Ukraine to strike targets in Russia with US-supplied weaponry but believes that this is a decision that Kiev must make on its own. The US was focused on providing Patriot missile systems and other forms of critical air defensehe said.
Russia’s defense ministry claims its troops have retaken the village Robotine in the southern Zaporozhye region. The claim was unconfirmed. Ukrainian forces regained control of the village last August. Elsewhere in the southern regions of Ukraine, an air attack on the central region of Kherson 17 civilians were injured, the district prosecutor’s office said. A Russian rocket attack injured six people in Mykolaiv, according to Ukraine’s rescue service.
Vladimir Putin arrived in China on Thursday to meet his counterpart Xi Jinping as he seeks greater support from Beijing for its military efforts in Ukraine and its isolated economy. Putin, in an interview published in Xinhua ahead of his visit, welcomed Beijing’s “genuine desire” to help resolve the Ukraine crisis. Blinken, who met Xi in Beijing last month, said China’s support for Russia’s “brutal war of aggression” in Ukraine helped Russia increase production of missiles, drones and tanks – while halting direct arms exports.
European Union ambassadors agreed in principle on Wednesday to add four Russian media on EU sanctions listaccusing them of propaganda: The Voice of Europe, RIA Novosti, Izvestiya and Rossiyskaya Gazeta. In addition, the EU banned Russian funding of media, non-governmental organizations and political parties in the EU. There was before imposed sanctions on the Russian state-owned Russia Today and Sputnik.
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